{% include "includes/auth/janrain/signIn_traditional.html" with message='It looks like you are already verified. If you still have trouble signing in, you probably need a new confirmation link email.' %}

Hawaiian officials demand answers after false alarm of missile attack

The state of Hawaii was jolted Saturday morning by a warning of an imminent incoming missile attack, which was sent to cell phones, and local television and radio stations, as it took almost 40 minutes for officials to confirm that it was a false alarm.

This was my phone when I woke up just now. I'm in Honolulu, #Hawaii and my family is on the North Shore. They were hiding in the garage. My mom and sister were crying. It was a false alarm, but betting a lot of people are shaken. @KPRC2pic.twitter.com/m6EKxH3QqQ

CNN producer @lorenzaCNN describes receiving the false alarm in Hawaii: “We got alerts on our phone… we opened our sliding glass door to look out onto the beach, we saw probably 10 different families running, not walking, running back to their room.” https://t.co/Ry25OeY38xpic.twitter.com/RPohH8MTkT

“U.S. Pacific Command has detected no ballistic missile threat to Hawaii. Earlier message was sent in error,” the military command reported on Twitter. “State of Hawaii will send out a correction message as soon possible.”

“It was a false alarm based on a human error,” Sen. Schatz tweeted.

At the time of the alert, President Donald Trump was at one of his golf courses in Florida; he returned to his Mar-a-Lago retreat soon after it occurred.

White House officials said it was a problem in Hawaii, not from inside the U.S. military.

“The President has been briefed on the state of Hawaii’s emergency management exercise,” said White House Deputy Press Secretary Lindsay Walters. “This was purely a state exercise.”